Seeing the strangely glum Third Princess Mimir come out of the place with a barrier that barred entry, the escorting knights rushed over.
「Princess! Are you all right?!」
「………… Please hasten the preparations to return.」
「Yes, princess?」
「We’re returning to our country.」
Mimir said only that, leaving the knights baffled as she boarded the carriage.
The perplexed knights reluctantly started their preparations to return, and the carriage Mimir was on headed back to Yggurle Kingdom.
The carriage carrying Mimir hurried to the royal capital. The escorting knights were unable to ask Mimir, who wasn’t in her usual mood, what she had seen inside the barrier.
Passing through towns and villages without stopping, it was on the third day after leaving the sanctuary that Mimir’s troupe finally arrived at the royal capital.
Even the familiar World Tree piercing the clouds was a component that increased the current Mimir’s worries.
The Great Spirits have stated that the World Tree was not an absolute existence. As such, if the hubris of the elves continues to when the Spirit Tree grows large, there is a possibility that the World Tree could become a Spirit Tree and the Spirit Tree takes the place of the World Tree.
The World Tree Yggdrasil and the Spirits were existences that were inseparable with Yggurle Kingdom.
Even as they drew closer to the white royal castle near the World Tree, Mimir didn’t feel relief in her return. After this, her dejection grew as she must report to her father, the King.
Before long, the carriage carrying Mimir led by the Chivalric Order had arrived, and she prepared for an audience with the King.
Forselty had changed the location for Mimir’s report. Not an audience, but a private meeting of three people, the King, Mimir, and Prime Minister Balza in the council chamber. They had to prevent information leaks as best they could, as there was a possibility of the nobles behaving recklessly in fear of the information Mimir had brought back.
「Father, I have returned.」
「Mimir, firstly, your efforts have been appreciated.」
「Well then, Princess, have you found the Spirit Tree?」
Impatient, Balza asked Mimir.
「…………Father, a World Tree Spirit had sprouted and grown into a splendid Spirit Tree.」
「Princess, you were able to enter the barrier?!」
It was a place that Spirit Mages sent out to scout were unable to enter. Balza raised a loud voice as the place they thought the Spirit Tree would be in really did have it, and Mimir had entered that barrier-like thing that was formed over that place.
「I believe saying that I entered is wrong. I was simply allowed to come inside by chance, and I do not know if I would be able enter that place once more.」
Forselty and Balza were puzzled by Mimir’s words.
「Mimir, what do you mean you were allowed in? I received a report that the land where the Spirit Tree began growing was the savage lands. By your phrasing, are you saying that you were able to pass through the barrier with someone’s permission?」
Forselty had been given a report stating that no one was able to invade the land the Spirit Tree had begun growing in. They just heard that, in that place, Mimir did not enter with her abilities, but entered after being given permission by someone.
「It is just as I have said. The barrier formed over that land is much more sophisticated than the barrier covering Yggurle Kingdom. If we were to invade it, it would be impossible even after a thousand years.」
「Wha?! Our nation’s barrier is the fruit of our ancestral Elven technology made by utilizing the powers of the World Tree and the Spirits. There is nothing more sophisticated than that barrier.」
Mimir calmly observed the figure of her agitated father. Even her father, Yggurle Kingdom’s King, said he would use Spirits. Even though the Elves could only use Spirit Magic because the Spirits assist them……………
Elves are able to hear the voice of Spirits. They are able to recognize those existences, but it has been several hundred years since an Elf had seen a manifested Spirit.
「Father, a being higher than the Elves had laid out the barrier with the Spirit Tree at its center.」
Borrowing the power of the World Tree and Spirits, 10-odd Elves hold a ceremony to form the barrier of Yggurle Kingdom. However, the barrier Mimir had felt was formed with the cooperation of the manifested Great Spirits, as such, it is naturally a barrier of a different dimension.
Actually, it was not with just by the power of the Great Spirits, but also the effect of Takumi’s group’s thorough purification of the land, the Holy Barrier MD, Perception Inhibitor MD. With these effects coming together, it was a far more secure and sophisticated barrier than the one formed over the entire Yggurle Kingdom, but the Great Spirits were not kind enough to explain that.
Forselty and Balza were unable to think of an existence superior to the Elves. It was hubris thinking, but this is the Elf’s typical thoughts.
「A being superior to Elves, you say…………… who is it?」
「In that land, I had been given the opportunity to meet the Great Spirits of the Five Pillars. The Great Spirits-samas have manifested in that land.」
「Wha…………………………」
「………………………………」
Forselty and Balza displayed shocked expressions. Though Elves were supposed to coexist with Spirits, they’re unable to acknowledge the existences of manifested Spirits in their heads.
「The manifested Great Water Spirit Undine-sama, Great Wind Spirit Sylph-sama, Great Earth Spirit Gnome-sama, Great Fire Spirit Salamander-sama, Great Tree Spirit Dryas-sama have made that land a sanctuary, with the Spirit Tree at its heart. That land overflowing with miasma, once one of the monster nests over riddled the savage lands, has now become a place filled with sacred energy, clean water and air, with Spirits flitting about.」
Forselty and Balza’s understanding could no longer catch up. Originally, Elves exist alongside the Spirits, however, even if they were told that a Great Spirit had manifested, it would commonly be taken as too unbelievable.
「………… Listen, Mimir. Let’s say the sanctuary of the Spirit Tree is true. Is it alright for you to say that a World Tree seed was brought to that land and had coincidentally sprouted, and as a result, the Great Spirits had manifested and created a sanctuary?」
「Your Majesty, if the Spirit Tree exists, and the spirits created the sanctuary, would it be an exaggeration to call it our territory?」
「Fumu, you could say that…………. If we consider it as increasing our territory in the savage lands, it would lessen the Spirits within our country in the short run, but it would be a positive in the long run.」
Mimir’s head suddenly ached. How would you govern a place no one could enter? Before that, do you now only consider Spirits as tools to be used?
「Fuu, Father, Balza, how do you plan on entering that place? Undine-sama and the Great Spirits are by no means the ally of the Elves.」
Mimir sighed, and relayed the Great Spirits’ words verbatim. The faces of the King and Prime Minster paled before her very eyes. The relationship of Elves and Spirits is nothing more than the Elves coincidentally having the ability to hear the voices of the Spirits and the Spirits helping them out.
「………… What do you mean? Mimir, the World Tree is not an absolute existence?
「Y-your Majesty, the barrier of Yggurle Kingdom is largely due to the powers of the World Tree and Spirits. At this rate, the barrier would disappear.」
To say nothing of the barrier, the leaves and dew of the World Tree are ingredients for advanced potions and had become a main export in trade with other countries. When the pair finally realized the gravity of the situation the Elves were currently in, Mimir had felt depressed.
(Ah, we Elves are receiving punishment for living arrogantly, aren’t we?)
Mimir knew of the depravity of the Elven nobility. Virtuous nobility existed among them, but there were many high ranking noble houses with no interest in anything but factional rivalries and amassing wealth.
(Above all, the inclination to scorn other races is, alas, almost within all elves.)
Mimir, the recovery magic user known as the Saint, had many requests for healing from many nations. However, she was also aware that they charge a large sum doing so. As she didn’t warn them not to do that, it might as well be her committing the same offense.
In the end, at the request of the King and the Prime Minister who could not accept the facts, Mimir is to head to the Sanctuary once more, and negotiate with the Great Spirits. Leaving what to negotiate to someone else completely, Mimir wondered if this country would really be alright.
***